Explorer windows acting wierd

My Windows Explorer windows have recently stopped functioning as they should. They are automatically extended to my screen size, but the field the icons are in is normal sized. The windows cannot be resized or closed. They also do not appear on the taskbar. The only way to get rid of explorer windows once opened is to kill and restart explorer.exe from the task manager. This problem started on its own, I wasn't mucking around with anything and I have not installed any programs recently. I have tried eight different system restore points and they all say "no changes made". I have also tried applying the registry backup I made a few weeks ago. That didn't work either. Can anybody help me?
I can't show you guys a screenshot of my problem b/c the forum will not let me as I have not made 5 posts yet.
Go to Imgur and add this after the url: /MmyR7D5.png
OS: XP version 5.1 with SP3
Computer: Thinkpad T61, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2gHz, 1.48Gb RAM

 

What is your current antivirus?

do the following:

Download, install, update and do full scan with these free malware detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

Remove all found, reboot, and run again until scans run clean, these can be removed afterwards if you so choose.

 

I've been using MBAM and SuperAntiSpyware for years, they were one of the solutions I tried. I just forgot to include that in my original post. They didn't find anything.

 

okay then let's try checkdisk,

go to start, run, type in cmd

in cmd type in chkdsk c: /r and press enter

type y for yes and press enter

type exit and press enter

restart your pc,,allow to finish which could be a lengthy process, percentages will fluctuate this is normal.

view report in event viewer, applications, winlogon

you should run checkdisk at least twice or until no errors are found.

also please do this so I can learn something of your system, you also forgot to mention which antivirus you are currently using:

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select All (Ctrl-A), Copy (Ctrl-C) and then paste (Ctrl-V) the information back here in your next reply.
You can edit out any personal information.

 

also want you to run process explorer and autoruns, autoruns will tell you what is starting up that should not be and you can right click to check each entry online,

process explorer you can also check each entry on line.


AUTORUNS

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902

I would scrutinize what you have loading on StartUp. You need to see if you have programs loading during boot process which might be changed to on demand.
With Autoruns you can uncheck an item, which disables it from starting, or you can right click an item and then delete it. If you uncheck you can recheck to re-enable the item. It is a much safer approach than editing the Registry and better than using msconfig.
Another useful feature of the program is that you can right click an item and select Search Online to get information about the item selected.
When using Autoruns you will need to click on the "Logon" tab to see what is running at start-up.


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
Process Explorer

 

Whoops, I had completely forgotten about CheckDisk! I'll run that in a minute but for now here is my system info:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name LENOVO-391FCDD5
System Manufacturer LENOVO
System Model 7663CV5
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11 GenuineIntel ~2194 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date LENOVO 7LETB2WW (2.12 ), 2/20/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name LENOVO-391FCDD5\End User
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 1,536.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 285.64 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 3.33 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

And I'm using Avast Antivirus
I have CCleaner, which gives me access to startups. It let me generate a text file of them, I added it as an attachment to this post.

 

Yes HKCU:Run DAEMON Tools Lite DT Soft Ltd "C:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe" -autorun
Yes HKCU:Run Google Update "C:\Documents and Settings\End User\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe" /c
Yes HKLM:Run ApnUpdater "C:\Program Files\Ask.com\Updater\Updater.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run BLOG rundll32 C:\PROGRA~1\ThinkPad\UTILIT~1\BatLogEx.DLL,StartBattLog
Yes HKLM:Run cssauth Lenovo Group Limited "C:\Program Files\Lenovo\Client Security Solution\cssauth.exe" silent
Yes HKLM:Run DLA Sonic Solutions C:\WINDOWS\System32\DLA\DLACTRLW.EXE
Yes HKLM:Run EZEJMNAP Lenovo Group Limited C:\PROGRA~1\ThinkPad\UTILIT~1\EzEjMnAp.Exe
Yes HKLM:Run HotKeysCmds Intel Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\hkcmd.exe
Yes HKLM:Run IgfxTray Intel Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxtray.exe
Yes HKLM:Run ISUSPM Startup InstallShield Software Corporation C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\UPDATE~1\ISUSPM.exe -startup
Yes HKLM:Run ISUSScheduler InstallShield Software Corporation "C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\UpdateService\issch.exe" -start
Yes HKLM:Run NvCplDaemon Microsoft Corporation RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
Yes HKLM:Run NvMediaCenter Microsoft Corporation RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
Yes HKLM:Run nwiz NVIDIA Corporation C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\nview\nwiz.exe /installquiet
Yes HKLM:Run Persistence Intel Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxpers.exe
Yes HKLM:Run PSQLLauncher UPEK Inc. "C:\Program Files\ThinkVantage Fingerprint Software\launcher.exe" /startup
Yes HKLM:Run PWRMGRTR rundll32 C:\PROGRA~1\ThinkPad\UTILIT~1\PWRMGRTR.DLL,PwrMgrBkGndMonitor
Yes HKLM:Run SearchSettings Spigot, Inc. "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Spigot\Search Settings\SearchSettings.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run SoundMAX Analog Devices, Inc. C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\Smax4.exe /tray
Yes HKLM:Run SoundMAXPnP C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\Core\smax4pnp.exe
Yes HKLM:Run SunJavaUpdateSched Oracle Corporation "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run SynTPEnh Synaptics, Inc. C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
Yes HKLM:Run SynTPLpr Synaptics, Inc. C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPLpr.exe
Yes HKLM:Run TPFNF7 Lenovo Group Limited C:\Program Files\Lenovo\NPDIRECT\TPFNF7SP.exe /r
Yes HKLM:Run TPHOTKEY Lenovo Group Limited C:\Program Files\Lenovo\HOTKEY\TPOSDSVC.exe
Yes HKLM:Run TpShocks Lenovo. TpShocks.exe
Yes HKLM:Run TrackPointSrv Lenovo Group Limited tp4serv.exe
Yes HKLM:Run TVT Scheduler Proxy Lenovo Group Limited C:\Program Files\Common Files\Lenovo\Scheduler\scheduler_proxy.exe
Yes HKLM:RunOnce Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (cleanup) Microsoft Corporation rundll32.exe "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\cleanup.dll",ProcessCleanupScript
No Startup Common Broadcom Corporation. C:\PROGRA~1\ThinkPad\BLUETO~1\BTTray.exe
Yes Startup User Wallpaper Changer.lnk Microsoft Corp. C:\Program Files\WallpaperToy\Wallpapertoy.Exe


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all of the above should be changed to no you do not need them on startup,

is the Client Security from lenovo an antivirus?

you can only have ONE antivirus, you should uninstall either this or avast.

too many startups are causing conflicts

autoruns will let you check each one on line to find out exactly what it does and if you need it on startup.